Weighing In On the Mosque

I try to avoid posts regarding controversial current events, but feel I should weigh in on the Mosque proposed to be built in NYC near ground zero. (That having been said, I tell my students all the time that what I think about things is completely irrelevant - that each individual person must make up their own mind about a topic and question.) I have taught civil rights and liberties for the past six years, including the topics of freedom of speech and expression, and religion. We must remember that this is a constitutional issue - not a matter of state or local statutory law. The constitutional principle of protecting a person's freedom of exercise of his or her religion shall be vigorously protected, in my opinion. The Mosque "case" is challenging, though, just as many first amendment cases have been challenging. Take the case of OH v. Brandenburg: we didn't want Mr. Brandenburg to win, because he represented the most vile, scary, despicable, backward, disgusting members of our society. He had to win, though, because of the constitutional principles at stake - freedom of speech and the protection of "mere advocacy" of a position. Same goes for the builder of the Mosque: we probably don't want him to "win" because there is a strong possibility that he wants to erect a victory "flag" at the location where Jihad was waged against the United States -- an unimaginable affront to those who lost their loves ones on 9/11. Again, it's challenging to us, but these are the cases that distinguish us as a nation and define our resiliency and commitment to our fundamental constitutional principles. Look at the Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye case: the Court rightly found that we will not tolerate governments "singling out" minority religions and trying to squash their right to practice their religion, just because we don't happen to like them.